The Time Paradox (2008)

Other than the lame "time paradox" that isn't resolved (similar to issues that I have with Back to the Future), this is an excellent book. A very quick read that is just as interesting for adults as for children/young adults.

I finally had some time to listen to the last 2.5 discs today! (And, I'm happy to announce that my office no longer looks like a tornado had a tornado party (with all his tornado friends) in it...) I liked this book quite quite a lot. 4 stars, I think. I think it would have been 4.5 if it had been read by the old narrator.... (Come back, Nathaniel Parker!! Come back!!)

The title of the book, The Time Paradox, pretty much describes the plot of the book. Time travel, and the paradoxes found therein. If you thought ONE Artemis Fowl was bad, wait until there are TWO!! Oye, and they're both such clever little geniuses.... It was fun.

My only question: What happened to Minerva Paradizo??? I LOVED Book 5, because of Minerva, and now it's like Book 5 never happened!! WHY, EOIN COLFER, WHY???!?!?!!?????

Not that I'm complaining... Okay, yes I am! I was very very disappointed by her unexplained non-appearance. Not that there weren't other lovely things that happened, but still! WHAT'S UP??? ( )

In this one Artemis discovers that his mother is serious ill and the only cure he sold to an unscrupulous dealer in rare animals when he was ten, and is now dead. He has to go back in time to find the animal and rescue it and his biggest enemy is himself from the past.

Interesting to see Artemis and the changes that have happened to him over the years and how his relationship with the Faerie world has changed. He's an interesting character and this was quite a good read. ( )

Summary: Artemis Fowl has returned from the demon dimension to find out that three years have passed, and that he has new younger brothers. He's used the remnants of his secretly procured fairy magic to persuade his parents not to notice that their eldest son is three years younger than he's supposed to be, but settling back in to a normal life is proving tricky. But then his mother gets sick: terribly sick, sick with a magic-borne disease that invariably proves fatal unless treated. The only problem is that the only known cure involves the cerebral fluid of a lemur... from a species that went extinct over eight years previously. A species in whose extinction a younger Artemis just may have had a hand. But in order to save his mother, Artemis is willing to risk everything, including having the demon warlock Number One send him and the fairy Holly Short back in time to save the last lemur. But everyone seems to want that lemur, and Artemis will have to outsmart not only the leader of a group that calls themselves the Extinctionists, but he will also have to outwit a younger version of himself... and he will have to do it all before he and Holly are forced to return to the future.

Review: I realize that by my review of the Artemis Fowl books, I may be getting a little repetitive, but thus far, all of the books in this series have been just plain reliably fun. They're geared towards the younger end of the YA set, but they're snarky and clever enough that they're fun for adults as well. Similarly, there are always some interesting moral quandaries and honest emotional moments amid all the running around and fairy technology and explosions, plus there's been some really interesting character development over the course of the series - highlighted in stark relief here, since we get to see book-6-Artemis literally right next to just-before-book-1-Artemis.

This book in specific had a number of things that I liked, and a few that didn't work quite so well for me. To start with, I love time travel books, and thinking about the paradoxes of the title (does traveling into the past cause the need to travel into the past in the first place, etc.) is like catnip for me, and I thought this book managed to hit just the right level of complexity on that score without getting itself irretrievably tangled. I also enjoyed watching older Artemis be forced into some self-reflection, and it was interesting to watch him deal with situations not only without Butler to lean on, but with past-Butler as an adversary.

My primary negative was that I found the Extinctionists a little too contrived and silly for them to really be effective as villains. (Although they did remind me of the Epicurean Society from Neil Gaiman's short story "Sunbird".) They were okay as a foil for both older and younger Artemises to play off of, but I felt like Artemis vs. Artemis was the more interesting conflict. The other thing with which I wasn't entirely pleased was the direction it appears Colfer is taking the Holly/Artemis relationship. I think they're much more interesting as friends and allies, and although I suppose as Artemis ages he's going to invariably become more interested in romance than he was as an 11-year-old, I liked the fact that prior to this point, the story didn't have - and didn't seem to need - a romantic component. (Plus, despite some time-travel shenanigans fudging with their relative ages, Holly's still substantially older than Artemis, and it's just kind of gross.)

But those are both relatively minor points. On the whole, this book had no problem drawing me in, keeping me interested, invested, and entertained, and I flew through the audiobook (which Enn Reitel does an excellent job narrating) in shockingly quick time. 4 out of 5 stars.

Recommendation: So much of this book is based on what's gone before that the series absolutely must be read in order. But this one's a fun installment, easily on par with the rest. (Although it did suffer from a relative lack of Foaly. Ah well.) ( )

I originally reviewed this book on my blog - The Cosy Dragon. For more recent reviews by me, please hop over there.

Artemis has been saving the fairy world for a long while. But now, the fairy world needs to save him. His mother has come down with some sort of magical sickness, and Artemis may be infected too. They will try and jump back in time - but will things have changed too drastically?

Artemis continues to grow as a character, and show real remorse for things he has done in the past. Now that he has a chance to change that, will he still do what is best, or will he turn his friends against him in his quest to save his mother?

This book is yet another fascinating plot by Colfer. The twists, the turns, every book has something entirely new to offer. I think that the plot is just as compelling as the previous books in the series, and it doesn't interfere in any way as some other series later books seem to. It provides more back story, while also pushing Artemis forward.

The concept of time comes up again and again in the books. In the first book, a time stop makes it possible for Artemis to escape a blue bio bomb. In the book before this one, Artemis misses 3 whole years of his life. I feel like this is something Colfer is pushing - make the most of the time you have, particularly with your family before it is too late.

Also evident in these books is a love of the environment, and sadness at having destroyed it. Artemis tries to right the wrongs of the past, but things can never go right for him completely. The kraken adds a hint of humour to the book, but really, it is very sad that species are going extinct. The Extinctionists are a disgusting touch that really crown the concept in this book.

What I felt was missing was more development between Minerva and Artemis. Suddenly there seems to be something between Artemis and Holly! That can't be right surely it's just a working relationship? I guess you'll have to read the book to find out.

I'd recommend this book to teenagers and children alike. It's not all that different in the type of content, so if you liked the first books, this one will just continue the enjoyment for you.

As you can see from this review, and the last one I posted, the covers to these books are different to the first four in my set. This makes me a little sad, especially considering the books now have yet another cover. A friend in the industry tells me that changing the cover is a marketing ploy to get new readers to pick up the books - but it just annoys people like me who are trying to collect a whole set. ( )